So I was thinking the other day that I really should try to figure out where to take this wild ride of a blog. I have in the past blogged about a variety of things. My observations in corporate america, my day to day life in corporate america, about juggling school and work, and traveling the world and what I saw on my travels.

Now I have started to realize slowly (through the help of my friends and fans) that my blog while entertaining does not really have the edge it used to. As such, my decision to merge CorporateSuit and GlobalSuit may have been a mistake. Editors note: Yes I am admitting a mistake, heh.

So I think I may revise and rethink the concept of my Blogs. For now, I am thinking GlobalSuit will stay as my personal blog, with my musings.  And CorporateSuit will shift back to be focused more on my musings on life as a Corporate worker and tools and tips I come across.

The jury is still out…and we’ll see what I decide.

I used to travel a lot, for work, school, and pleasure. However, this year has been a bit of quieter year. In 2006 I clocked over 175k miles and in 2007 I traveled about 125k miles. This year I am probably just shy of 30k, which means a few things.

First, it means I am a lot healthier because I am not putting my body through the stress of being in a pressurized cabin at 40,000 feet. I have noticed this year *touches wood* I haven’t been sick nearly as much as I normally am, which has been really nice.

Second, it means I am going to lose status on American Airlines (boo) and will drop down to Platinum if I can squeeze some transatlantic flights in before the year ends. I was really pleased that I had racked up Executive Platinum for three straight years, and now I am going to lose it in 2008. Oh well, I guess my health has a price.

Third, I am saving a fair chunk of change with the lack of flying. Now that airlines are charging you per a piece of luggage, per a carryon, for picking an aisle seat, it seems that not traveling is easier and less stressful than dealing with the nickle and diming that the airline industry has been doing lately. Not to mention the cost of fuel nowadays.

Oh well, I guess I will have to wave goodbye to my airline and hotel statuses. *sigh*

So I have been in Washington DC for over three months and someone just asked me recently how I am liking my new job, new apartment, new city, etc. etc. And my initial thoughts were “great everything is great,” but I realized I was quickly answering it without really putting much thought into it. And today while sitting on the couch or should I say couch surfing, I put some real thought into it.

New Job. It is going good, I like my new coworkers and I think that this is a great opportunity for me to try something new and different. So far the work is challenging and interesting, which is good. I do however sometimes feel slightly overwhelmed by everything, since at my old job we didn’t do as much paperwork and documentation as we do here. I was used to conducting data gathering, analyzing the data, and then writing a report. Here it is similiar but we have a documentation part that is very, very meticulous. I guess that is the difference between a technology and management consulting firm and an accounting firm.

New Apartment. I like the new place, it is a bit pricey compared to San Diego, but it is spacious enough for me and I enjoy the fact I am on floor from the top floor. Although since I am mildly scared of heights, standing on my balacony 20+ stories up is a bit nervewracking. However, I am westward facing I can see the sunset and think of my friends on the West Coast. In fact, I like my new flatscreen and my HD DVR (I mentioned it once before) so much that I sometimes I tend to stay home more than go out and explore. That is the negative side to having a place you like to live in, you don’t mind staying home more.

New City. Well I don’t know really what I think about DC. It is different, but yet familiar. The commute reminds me of London and riding the Underground. The people are like a mix of California and London, people are in their own world like London and not as friendly as California. On the flipside, people in DC are less flakey than people from California. Here if they say they’ll meet you for happy hour, they’ll meet you for happy hour. Life here is fast paced, a little superficial, and very status focused. Other than that, its not so bad yet, but I do miss a lot of things from California: amazing sushi, great Hawaiian food, knowing where to drive and how to get there, and my friends.

Let’s see how I feel in 3 months.

I wrote this entry on July 23, the day before my birthday but held it for a while before I published it.  I think it was because I started the entry one way, revised, and revised until it is what it is now.  If you know me well, and a lot of people don’t really know me as well as they think they do, you will know that I am not a fan of big birthday celebrations. The two exceptions have been my 25th and my 30th.

The 25th was because my girlfriend at the time really wanted to put on a big birthday party for me, and it was a landmark as it was my quarter of a century birthday.  I remember it like it was yesterday, some good friends, a nice keg of Seirra Nevada and mellow night of just chilling and having a good time.

My 30th was because, well it was my 30th and to be honest there was a girl at the time I wanted to impress so a bunch of us got 2 VIP Booths at On Broadway and I think at final headcount there was about 50 people there throughout the night, some we got into the VIP Area, some we couldn’t.  I was flipping through the photos the other night and kind of laughed…those days of my hard partying and dance clubbing days are long gone.

Somewhere in my early 30s I started to become more concerned about work, professionalism, career, and education.  I was more concerned with how I looked, how I acted, who I befriended, who I could help, where I was,  where I was going, and where I had been.  Not to wax in religiousm, but it reminds me of a passage from the Bible 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

Now as I get older, I started to wonder about what lies around the bend…and yet, I eagerly await it.

I know everyone goes through the feeling they need more minutes in the day, more minutes for their phone plan, more minutes to sleep, and more minutes to day dream about more minutes. Tonight, as I sat on my floor with my laptop, I realized I just don’t have enough minutes in the day to get anything I want done. I haven’t decided if it is because maybe I am not efficient…or maybe its because I trying to perpetually multi-task and doing nothing effectively. Hah.

I have a list of projects I want to really get sorted out:

1. Update my Plaxo so that all of my contacts are current (or at least accurate)
2. Load the said Plaxo contacts to my mobile phone so my phone has a current information
3. Unpack from my move from San Diego to VA/DC (yes I am still living in boxes)
4. Organize my files on all of my removable drives so that I consolidate my data (yes, my pictures, files, and data are strewn over 3+ TBs of hard drives)
5. Email all of my friends who I have neglected for the past 3 months (what is left of them)
6. Invent a time freezing device that will allow me to get projects 1 - 5 completed in a nanosecond

That is a good start…haha, and should keep me busy for the next few weeks!

So I am riding the elevator tonight on my way home, and I eavesdropped on four girls on the elevator with me. The conversation was a bit humorous, here is the transcript:

Girl #1 “Where do you work?”
Girl #2 “I work at a HR consulting firm in New York City.”
Girl #3 “Really? Which one.”
Girl #2 “Company X.”
Girl #1 “That is great, how long have you worked there?”
*Elevator doors open*
Girl #2 “One year.”
Girl #3 “Wow that is like a long time!!!”
Girl #1 “Yeah you must be really senior there!”

At this point I burst out laughing and thank god they were getting off, because they realized I was eavesdropping. They all looked a bit sheepish at me, when they realized how silly they sounded. But then again, I guess for the twenty-something young professional a year is a really long, long time. But for me that is a joke, how can you gain any worthwhile experience if you continiously jump from job to job every 6 months to a year? At some point the job hoping will catch up with them, and recruiters will just pass them by as a risk.

I must say I was shocked and amazed when I read the report the other day about Prince Harry serving in the front lines of Afghanistan. I personally think it is extremely admirable that Prince has been serving his Country out in the field, and wish more leaders would do so. Albeit, Prince Harry is only third in line for the throne, but it sickens me when political leaders (US, UK, etc.) push for military action without having seen military action themselves.

I will be completely honest, I was in Army ROTC when I was in University (yes, I almost became an officer in the US Army), but for personal reasons I had to turn in my scholarship and walk away. I however did attend an officer boot camp one summer, and I will say I have a strong admiration for anyone who serves our Country in the military. I can remember the hardworking, eager, and bright officers I trained with that summer and following years. People don’t join the military for glamour or fame, but instead for patriotism, desire to make a positive difference, and service.

While some people would probably argue Prince Harry is probably in a very controlled environment. Anyone who has served would tell you that you can’t truly have a controlled environment. Colleagues and friends who have served in the Iraqi Green Zone will tell you that while it “should” be safer, it often is more dangerous than some of the other hotspots in Iraq.

Kudos to Prince Harry! I am glad he is getting to fulfill his dream of serving his Country, and being treated like a solider (not a Prince) for his tour. I am sad that this news link by the Drudge Report will most likely shorten his stay in Afghanistan due to security issues.

I have been stricken with the dreaded cold. It totally ruined my Valetine’s Day Weekend last week, and screwed up my entire plans for Chicago.  I am still feeling pretty rotten, but I am slowly starting to feel better.  Last Thursday (which was Valentine’s Day) I was a wreck, running a fever, and feel like general hell.

I did take a coworkers suggestion and used Zicam, snorting it up my nose like no tomorrow.  And another coworker swore by Zand Insure Immune Support Liquids, which has an Echinacea and Goldenseal blend.  I can’t say which of the two worked, but the cold never left my throat and stayed out of my nose, which I was really grateful. So if I ever started to feel ill again, I would probably attack the cold with both the Zicam and the Zand formula again.

I have been noticing a lot lately that I have been getting sick more than usual. I usually feel fine, but after a flight I just start to get run down and end up getting sick. My friend the Divine Miss N has pointed out that I come down with the “man-flu” a lot. Basically, us men get stricken by this virulent strain of the flu virus that almost incapacitates us, while most women only get mild symptoms and feel generally fine. Yeah, basically she is calling us men big babies.

And I think she is right. Whenever, I get sick I want to just crawl up into bed somewhere and just sleep through it. I don’t want to go to work, get showered and leave the house, or try to function in any way shape or form. I just want to quietly die in my bedroom, and wait until the sickness passes. And what is wrong with that? I believe if you have accrued sick time, you may as well use it. That is my story and I am sticking to it. *cough cough* Ok off to bed I go.

It has been a while since I last posted (mostly due to my lazyiness).  But I did have a thought this year, one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to start blogging more regularly.  One of the ways I have decided to do this is by promising to myself to publish at a minimum at least one entry a week.  Ideally, it would be great to publish more, but I don’t want to push myself too hard.